The NRA And Bloomberg Want You To Argue About Guns This Thanksgiving

You can add guns to the list of things political groups want you to argue about with your family this Thanksgiving.

In the past week, both the National Rifle Association and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control group have released competing guides about how to respond to dinner table "myths" from their respective opponents.

Last week, Bloomberg's Mayor's Against Illegal Guns released its "simple guide to Talking Turkey about guns."

"This Thanksgiving, when talk around the table turns to politics and current events, you can help set the record straight on some of the most common myths about guns," the MAIG guide reads.

It goes on to describe myths from the National Rifle Association followed by a few sentences debunking them.

Example:

Myth: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

Fact: If more guns in the hands of more people stopped gun crime, we'd be the safest country in the developed world. Instead, our gun murder rate is the highest in the developed world.

Myth: New gun laws are unconstitutional.

Fact: All rights have reasonable limits --you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater. A conservative Supreme Court justice ruled that the Second Amendment allows for common-sense public safety laws like prohibiting felons from buying guns.

In response, the NRA on Tuesday released a competing guide through its lobbying arm. The guide is adorned with a cartoon turkey Photoshopped with Bloomberg's face and holding a gun.

"This thanksgiving, Michael Bloomberg has found yet another way to put a damper on a favorite American holiday," the NRA's guide says. "While most people will spend the day relaxing with friends and family; watching football; and eating too much, billionaire Bloomberg will be busy attacking our freedoms. Let's face it, a Bloomberg Thanksgiving is already a drag --no soda, no dessert, and no 'trans-fatty' sides. Now he wants to turn Thanksgiving table table talk to curtailing our Second Amendment rights. America has had enough of Bloomberg's nanny state and his gun-grabbing mayors."

The layout is similar to the MAIG guide:

Bloomberg Myth: "40 percent of guns are transferred without a background check.

Fact: Even the anti-gun Washington Post's Fact Checker gave President Obama "Three Pinocchios for making that claim back in March."

Bloomberg Myth: If more guns in the hands of more people stopped the gun crime, we'd be the safest country in the developed world.

Fact: As the number of guns and carry permit-holders have risen to all-time highs, the nation's murder rate has fallen to nearly an all-time low.

Fact: Second Amendment supporters believe that some laws, such as those prohibiting felons from possessing guns, are constitutional, but oppose legislation that would prohibit firearms and magazines best suited for defense, and that would move toward gun registration under the "universal background checks" label."

See both very long guides below:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns

National Rifle Association

About The Author

Daniel Strauss is a reporter for Talking Points Memo. He was previously a breaking news reporter for The Hill newspaper and has written for Politico, Roll Call, The American Prospect, and Gaper's Block. He has also interned at Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and The New Yorker. Daniel grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in History. At Michigan he helped edit Consider, a weekly opinion magazine. He can be reached at daniel@talkingpointsmemo.com.